Saturday, 24 September 2011

Shahida Perveen, 30, gave birth to the boy and soon thereafter, a crowd gathered at the hospital to see the child. Shahida was brought to Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi from Palandri, a district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) some days before. Shahida had already two children who were normal.
Doctors said that except for the ears, all the facial features of the boy were duplicated. "This condition is known as craniofacial in the medical world," said one doctor. The boy has irregular breathing and his chances of surviving were slim."We are not very hopeful about his life," hospital Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Naeem Ahmed told Dawn.

Such abnormalities point to genetic problems and occur in marriages between cousins, he said. To avoid the same happening again, Dr Ahmed advised the couple to consult doctors before going for another pregnancy.

Talking to TheNation Medical Specialist HFH Gynae Department, Dr Nasira, said that there are very less chances of the baby’s survival. “We are not hopeful about baby’s life,” she added.

She said that in such medical cases where heads of babies are joined with two lower body parts could be separated thorough operation while in this difficult case, operation is not possible as the faces of the baby are joined very closely.

Dr Nasira informed that baby was born after a normal delivery while his mother Shahida Perveen has been kept in labour room for medical treatment.

According to Dr Asma, the duty doctor at Labour Room II, the condition of Shahida Perven was stable; nonetheless, she was worried and not speaking so much.

Sardar Khalil Ahmed, her husband, was a labourer.

The birth of baby with two faces caused a sensation in the city as a large number of citizens including women, children, young girls and even old aged persons thronged towards Paediatric Department to have a glimpse of the baby with two faces.